Patti Epler | Mar 17, 2011
Shell Oil Co. wants a federal judge to speed up the government’s process for dealing with oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea.
The oil company on Thursday filed a motion in the ongoing court battle over Lease Sale 193. The company is protesting a schedule set out in an earlier filing by the federal Interior Department that stretches out the government’s plans to make a decision on Chukchi Sea oil drilling until late October.
Shell has already said that long of a delay would jeopardize its plans to explore for oil in the area in 2012. Now, according to the new court filing, the company wants the court to order the government to be done with a new environmental impact statement by July.